PURPOSE:
This poster presentation outlines the development, implementation, and lessons learned from a Papua New Guinea (PNG) Midwifery Leadership Buddy quality improvement project. Supported by Rotary, Australian College of Midwives, the PNG Midwives Society, and Australian Doctors International, this project addresses gaps in rural and remote maternal and newborn care and ensures supervisor safety.

DISCUSSION:
In West New Britain, midwife shortages challenge the provision of quality, comprehensive maternal and newborn care in rural and remote communities, requiring nurses and community health workers with limited midwifery training to provide care. This capacity gap results in 'missed care,' contributing to poor maternal and infant health outcomes. In response, a PNG Midwifery Buddy trio worked with midwives, nurses, community health workers, and local stakeholders to develop two complementary solutions. First, they created the ANC, PNC & Newborn Care Guide, a clinic poster providing staff with an easy-to-use reference summarizing required care at each visit. Content includes prompts for history, examination, tests, treatment, education, and planning, aligning with PNG clinical guidelines and training manuals. Second, recognizing Safe Motherhood teams must travel by river and ocean to reach many remote clinics, the partnership provided life jackets to ensure safe transportation, addressing a critical supervision access barrier.

EVIDENCE WHERE RELEVANT:
Feedback from participating clinicians demonstrated improved confidence in care delivery and adherence to clinical protocols, while life jacket provision enabled safer access to difficult-to-reach communities.

KEY MESSAGE:
This dual-approach quality improvement project exemplifies the power of midwifery partnerships in developing simple but impactful solutions addressing both clinical capacity and safety barriers to enhance community midwifery care and improve maternal and newborn health outcomes. The ANC, PNC & Newborn Care Guide design can be easily adapted by midwives in similar contexts worldwide, and templates will be available to delegates for workplace adaptation. Poster session 1 (Group A)